1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retractable photographing (imaging) lens (retractable lens barrel), the length of which is smaller in a retracted state than that in a ready-to-photograph state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Miniaturization of lens barrels incorporated in optical devices such as cameras has been in increasing demand. Above all, further miniaturization of retractable photographing lenses, specifically the length thereof in a non-operating state, has been in strong demand. To meet such demands, the inventor of the present invention has proposed a retractable photographing lens disclosed in U.S. patent application No. 10/368342 in which an opticalr element of a photographing optical system is retracted to a position deviating from the photographing optical axis of the photographing optical system, and at the sable time, the optical element (together with other optical elements of the photographing optical system) is retracted toward a picture plane when the photographing lens is fully retracted. In a retractable photographing lens having guiding mechanism makes it difficult to reduce the length of the lens barrel.